The compounds to which it is referred in the present invention derive from 2,2-dimethyl-3-acetyl-cyclobutylacetic acid, also known in the art as pinonic acid. The said pinonic acid derivatives are prior known compounds and have already been described in the scientific literature as plasticizers [cf. Latv. PSR Zinat. Akad. Vestis, Kim. 1966, 670 reported in Chem. Abstr. 67, 64961 e (1967)]. The above-cited literature remains, however, mute with respect to the organoleptic properties of compounds I and does not even suggest that these compounds could be useful in the art, either as perfuming or as flavour-modifying ingredients as such, or as starting materials for the preparation of analogous or homologous derivatives useful as perfuming or flavouring agents.
The present invention has the merit of dealing with a problem which has apparently been neglected up to now by the industry and of providing the man in the art with a new series of valuable perfuming and flavour-modifying ingredients.